VISUALJOURNALIST

Charles Apple is a longtime news artist, graphics reporter, designer, editor and blogger. The former Focus page editor of the Orange County Register and graphics director of the Virginian-Pilot and the Des Moines Register, he spent five years as an international consultant and instructor. Currently, he’s managing editor for visuals at the Victoria (Texas) Advocate. He spends way too much time online. Read more ...

This page was designed by Spencer Holladay of the Gannett Design Studio in Louisville, Ky.

His boss — studio creative director Ryan Hildebrandt — tells us:

The Star contacted us in the early afternoon to explain what they were planning. We instantly knew how important this page would be to a lot of people. Spencer started building options immediately while working with the newsroom on the words.

The buzz about over this doesn’t surprise us one bit. I’m proud of the Star editorial staff and management for their no-fear approach to making sure their message wasn’t just seen, but also heard.

I have a number of other front-page editorials in my collection. On Dec. 5, 2008, the Detroit (Mich.) Free Press urged Congress to bail out the auto industry (below, left).

Here’s wishing the happiest of birthdays to five wonderful visual journalists…

Jeff Bash is a graphic and web designer for Go Daddy and based in Des Moines, Iowa. As a student at Grand View College, Jeff worked for me as a graphics intern at the Des Moines Register in the summer of 1999. We kept him on as a part-timer that fall and hired him full-time when he graduated. He introduced me to his college buddy Katie Kunert, who we also hired. Those of you who have seen my slideshows have heard this story in greater detail. When I left the Register in 2003, I nominated Jeff to be my successor. He actually served as graphics editor there longer than I did — until the Register laid him off in 2008. He then spent several years as lead marketing specialist for Bankers Trust in Des Moines, supervising the creative staff there. Jeff turns 38 today.

Amr Elsawym is a senior infographics designer and trainer for al-Ahram, Egypt’s largest news organization and based in Cairo. A graduate of Cairo University, Amr has worked for Gallo Multimedia and was head of infographics at Today, a newspaper in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Find his portfolio here and his Twitter feed here.

Shawn McIntosh is deputy managing editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in Atlanta, Ga. A 1979 graduate of St. Mary’s College in Maryland, Shawn earned a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina. She served as projects editor at USA Today and the Dallas Morning News and edited the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss., before joining the AJC in 2002 as a deputy managing editor. She became director of culture and change and then deputy managing editor for news and information before being named public editor in 2009. Find her Twitter feed here.

Laura Mueller is a freelance photojournalist and commercial photographer based in Lake Norman, N.C. A 1984 graduate of Miami University of Oxford, Ohio, Laura earned graduate degrees at the Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology and the University of Canberra, Australia. She spent 21 years as a photographer and photo editor for the Charlotte Observer in Charlotte, N.C. Among her clients: Lake Norman Magazine, Macy’s, McDonald’s, the YMCA, the Washington Post and the New York Times. Find her web site here.

Did you see this piece of genius data visualization in Sunday’s Washington Post?

The conflict in Syria just passed its fourth anniversary. Over those four years, more than 220,000 people — nearly a quarter of a million — have been killed.

Richard Johnson of the Post took a doubletruck to illustrate just how many lives that is. Running across pages A10 and A11 is this enormous illustration of a Syrian flag, drawn in a form of stipple — it’s made of thousands of little dots.

Click this for a much larger view:

How many dots? 220,000 of them. Each dot represents a life lost in Syria.

Is that amazing, or what?

Richard didn’t just give readers a realistic illustration of a Syrian flag. Note how the red portion at the top turns into droplets of blood…

…while the black parts below depict Syrian citizens in freefall.

Here’s what the artwork looked like before it was converted it into dots:

Richard was kind enough to reply to my queries:

Q. [I was wondering] how you plotted the artwork. Is there software that did that for you?

A. Ha. I wish. Nope, all plotted by hand in Adobe Illustrator. Had it gone black and white, I would have scaled the dots to make the shades in black.

Q. Wow. That’s what I was afraid of! About how much time did you spend on that?

A. I had about six hours on Friday and three [Saturday] to get it ready after the concept was cleared.

Those of you who have sat through my slideshows on infographics — and especially my “graphics for word people” sessions — have heard me talk about infographics vs. data visualization.

Typically, infographics quantify and compare, using data to help you get a handle on information that may — or may not — have meaning for you or your family or your career or your government. Or maybe just on something you care about — a hobby or an interest.

Data visualization, on the other hand, typically doesn’t really compare data or actually quantify anything in a way that invites analysis. Typically, data visualization is there just to help you get your head around something. It’s more there to make you say Hmm. Or maybe Wow. Or even Holy shit!

Richard’s piece definitely does that.

But that’s not surprising. He’s done this sort of work a lot, over the years. On the left, below, Richard used simple data visualization to show the number of people who had been killed by handguns in just the first month after the Sandy Hook incident.

The piece on the right is equally stunning. This shows the equipment — and especially the ammo — carried by the man who shot up the movie theater in Colorado three years ago.

I wrote about the “31 Days later” piece at the bottom of this blog post. The other graphic ran while I was teaching in Kenya, so I missed it at the time. I use both of these in my slide shows, however. They’re both amazing.

1989 graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, Scotland, Richard was an artist at the Detroit Free Press. He was named graphics editor of the Globe and Mail of Toronto in 2005. He moved to the same position at the Toronto National Post in 2007 and then left newspapers for nearly two years as an Information Management Officer at the United Nations. He returned to the National Post in 2010 and then to the Washington Post in October 2013.

Denise Bridges is a communications and administration specialist based in Williamsburg, Va. A 1977 graduate of the University of Southern California, Denise earned an MBA in strategic planning from the University of New Mexico. She worked with the Associated Press’ Los Angeles bureau, the Nashville Tennessean, the Albuquerque (N.M.) Tribune, the Wilmington, Del., News-Journal and the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune. She served as a community editor for the Daily Press of Newport News, Va., and as professional development director of the Virginia Press Association before joining the Virginian-Pilot in 2005 as director of newsroom operations and staff development. She left the Pilot in 2013. Find her Twitter feed here.

Patrick Evans-Hylton is senior editor for food and wine for Hampton Roads magazine and executive editor of Virginia Wine Lover magazine. A 1996 graduate of Johnson and Wales University, Patrick also hosts a food-themed weekly radio show and teaches gourmet cooking at the Culinary Institute of Virginia. He is the author of six books –his most recent is Popcorn. He also is CEO (“Chief Eating Officer”) of his own company, PatrickEvansHylton.com, which promotes Hampton Roads-area food and restaurants. Find his Twitter feed here. Patrick turns 50 today.

Roger Friedensen is a more than just a public relations expert, he’s a “reputation consultant.” Roger is president and CEO of Forge Communications, a strategic communications and marketing firm based in Raleigh, N.C. A holder of bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina, Roger spent 21 years as as vice president and director for client services for Epley Associates, Inc. of Raleigh. He moved to the Catevo Group as senior vice president in 2006 and forged Forge in November 2009. He’s on the executive committee of the counselor’s academy of the Public Relations Society of America, on the steering committee of the Regional Transportation Alliance and he’s a past president of the Raleigh Public Relations Society. As if all that wasn’t enough, Roger is also a guitarist and has released two CDs. Roger’s wife, Teresa Kriegsman, is the former design director of the News & Observer. Find his Twitter feed here. Roger turns 54 today.

Kerry Sipe is the former online news coordinator for the Virginian-Pilot. A 1967 graduate of the University of North Carolina, Kerry spent time at the Charlottesville, Va., Daily Progress and the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. before joining the Pilot. He spent more than 20 years as a reporter, photographer, copy editor, public editor and city editor for the Pilot’s Chesapeake and Virginia Beach bureaus before becoming the paper’s online news go-to guy in 2001. Kerry took a buyout in 2008 and turns 69 today.

Mike Homan is an editor and designer for the universal desk of the McClatchy Publishing Center in Charlotte, N.C. A 1984 graduate of the University of Georgia, Mike worked as a news artist for the Savannah Morning News before moving to the CharlotteObserver in 1988. He has worked at the Observer as a news artist, graphics editor, advertising art director, and sales director. He spent four years with the Charlotte Business Journal before returning to the Observer newsroom in 2005 as page-one designer. He was folded into the McClatchy hub in 2011. He and his wife, Cindy, also own and operate Homan Designs Photography. Find his Twitter feed here. Mike turns 54 today.

Gary O’Brien is a certified occupational therapy assistant based in Tucson, Ariz. A 1979 graduate of Northern Arizona University, Gary worked for the North Las Vegas Valley Times, the Arizona Republic, the Arizona Daily Sun, the East Valley Tribune and the Mesa Tribune before joining the Charlotte Observer in 1988. He worked as a staff shooter, photo systems editor, regional picture editor and photo lab manager. He became the Observer’s night picture editor in 2006 but returned to Arizona in 2011, where he worked as a photographer, picture editor and multimedia producer. He went back to school to get his medical certificate at the Pima Medical Institute and started his new career last year. Find his portfolio here and his blog here. Find Gary’s Twitter feed here.